NBA notebook: Team, players worth watching

NBA TV’s countdown hits zero today. No more Real Training Camp for an NBA fix. The real games begin tonight.

An 82-game NBA season provides dozens of story lines a week, as teams slug it out for 5 1/2 months for the start of the real season — the playoffs in mid-April.

Here’s a look at a few of the stories worth watching during the regular season.

This had better work

The Celtics remade themselves with the additions of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. An Atlantic Division title seems a foregone conclusion, and most have Boston making its return to the NBA Finals.

But the firepower of those two along with Paul Pierce only works if the superstars trust everyone, and role players such as point guard Rajon Rondo do their jobs. Watch how the Celtics handle their first bit of adversity. Do guys start chucking each other under the bus or do they develop championship chemistry?

Prove it

The Cavaliers were not the only team to surprise people last postseason.

The Jazz and Warriors did it out west. Now they have to build on it in a loaded conference where the strong seem at least as strong as last year.

X-factor

Where does Kobe Bryant finish the season? He’s a Laker now, but he could be with the Bulls, Mavericks, Heat, Knicks, Rockets or virtually anyone else by season’s end. If that happens, it could make for someone an instant title contender or create issues with a team that appears close to something special.

Plus, just imagine if someone else emerges in the Kobe Sweepstakes.

MVP chase

LeBron James is a popular preseason pick this year. Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash are always in the mix. Tim Duncan is so good he almost gets taken for granted. If the Nuggets do something this year, Carmelo Anthony becomes a strong candidate.

For our pick, we’ll go green and say Kevin Garnett reminds everyone just how special of a player he is when on a team with talent.

Young Bulls

The Bulls are young, talented, deep, well-coached and hungry. That should make them interesting to watch. If forward Luol Deng has a breakout season and Ben Gordon continues his ascent as a shooting guard, they have just about everything else needed to make a long playoff run.

Look for them to emerge in a competitive Eastern Conference.

Motivated Mavs

Their first-round meltdown against the Warriors makes their 67-win regular season more of a footnote than a statement.

Mark Cuban kept the team together and now it’s up to the Mavs to make a real statement this season: Win big in the regular season and bigger in the postseason. Look for that to happen: Nowitzki shows off a more developed game. Jason Terry and Devin Harris get it done on the perimeter. Josh Howard continues to develop into an all-star at forward. Jerry Stackhouse makes a difference off the bench.

The Mavericks survive the brutal Western Conference and they don’t blow a 2-0 lead in the Finals this time.